Essays by Janet Mock

I have a reluctant relationship to labels, especially when I feel forced to clothe myself in them to signify my identity. James Baldwin created this beautiful line about identity that I included in my book which speaks closely to how I feel about labels: “Identity would seem to be the garment with which one covers the nakedness of the self, in which case, it is best that the garment be loose, a little like the robes of the desert, through which one’s nakedness can always be felt, and, sometimes, discerned.”

Trepidation is a solid word to describe my feelings surrounding terms like activist, spokesperson and feminist. I remember bell hooks, one of the most widely read black feminist thinkers, reading an interview I gave to Bitch magazine, in which I boldly state that I don’t personally identify as a feminist. Immediately, she called me for a longer explanation.

Was that a misquote? she asked. No, I said. Why aren’t you a feminist? she pushed. I told her that I felt I wanted to push past labels. Labels were given to me without my consent ever since birth. She asked me why I embraced trans to qualify my womanhood. I told her I believe it’s a political statement for me to declare that nothing is wrong with being a woman who is trans, and I chose trans because it was mine. She then pushed, “To say you’re a feminist is a political statement. So why not feminist?” Simply, I said, I never felt like feminist was mine as I felt that black and trans and writer and woman belonged to me, and as a black trans woman writer I never felt like I was centered by feminism. I never felt it was created for or by me.

“Well, I say it’s for you. It’s yours so claim it!” bell said before ending the call.

“I don’t know,” Beyonce said. “That word can be very extreme. But I guess I am a modern-day feminist. I do believe in equality. I do believe in equality and that we have a ways to go and it’s something that’s pushed aside and something that we have been conditioned to accept. But I’m happily married. I love my husband.”

A still from “Flawless” featuring Adichie’s definition of Feminist

Often, I wonder if it was the sound-biting of that interview (specifically her use of “very extreme” and the myth that marriage is something feminists rally against) that led Beyonce to research the term feminist, and I wonder if her research led her to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie‘s TED Talk, “We Should All Be Feminists” and if Adichie’s reciting of the dictionary’s definition of feminist (a person who believes in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes) enabled the singer to say, yes, I can be a happily-married, bootylicious mama who believes in equality, yearns to be successful and sexy and calls herself a feminist — and this is flawless and I am going to sample Adichie’s words in my new song.

Since her self-titled album was released in December, I have seen the totality of that album as Beyonce’s feminist awakening, in which she boldly defines herself for herself — and for us all — a task which Audre Lorde reminds us is vital.

Last Sunday, I watched the MTV Video Music Awards solely because Beyonce was performing and would receive the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award (MTVs version of a lifetime achievement award). I was one of the fans live-tweeting, re-centering Beyonce with the hashtag #BeyMAs. But what I did not expect was for Beyonce to center herself, literally, as a feminist during her 16-minute performance. In a culture in which young women seem more and more apprehensive about the image, meaning and importance of feminism, Beyonce provided a mainstream audience and millennials everywhere with a clear definition of feminist, provided by Adichie whose words flashed behind an assembly line of women before FEMINIST overtook the background as Beyonce took her foreground.

To say I was emboldened by this image would be an understatement. It became the crescendo in my own feminist soundtrack, sparked by my conversation with bell months earlier. As a fan who grew up in front of the television with pop stars, VJs, and sitcom characters serving as my playmates, Beyonce was my No. 1 friend-in-my-head. On that VMAs Sunday, I watched Beyonce journey from Destiny’s Child to solo star, from Single Lady to wife and mother, from Independent Woman to feminist cultural icon. I cherished my relationship with Beyonce so much that I dedicated Chapter 14 of Redefining Realness to relay what Destiny’s Child and Beyonce meant to my coming-of-age and search for identity as a teenager.

Pop culture may be dismissed as lowbrow, but to me it is the culture that matters most. Popular culture helped raised me.

Beyonce Knowles and bell hooks and Barbara Smith and Audre Lorde carried me towards claiming feminist as my own, as one garment in which I drape my body to navigate this world. Feminist speaks to me because those women and their work have always spoken to me, and these are women who choose to wear this label and claim it as theirs.

But bell and Barbara and Audre have feminist cred, their work and commitment to feminism stands on solid ground, but Beyonce’s feminist awakening and stance has been widely questioned. Partly, it’s because she appears to be at the beginning of her journey. Partly it’s because her intentions are framed as a marketing ploy. Largely, it’s because her work is not viewed as “serious” work. Pop culture is never framed as a matter that matters. She’s often dismissed because her work exists outside the bounds of academia, outside the gravitas of letters, and solidly based in entertainment, media and music. I am in my 30s and was emboldened by Beyonce’s feminist stance on that stage, and can’t help but believe that that image will be equally as powerful to young people who witness that moment, whose first engagement with feminism will be that moment. Maybe, just maybe, Beyonce will serve as the bridge between pop culture and feminists like bell and Barbara and Audre, maybe some young woman bobbing her head to “Blow” or “Partition” or “Flawless” will do so while reading Ain’t I A Woman? or Homegirls or Sister Outsider.

So I applaud Beyonce and her feminist stance, a declaration of her own independence as a leotard-wearing, butt cheek-baring, Blue Ivy-toting, equal pay-advocating, Independent Woman-saluting, imperfect flawless feminist. And I thank her and our feminist foremothers for fortifying my own declaration as a feminist. Among my duties as a feminist will be to protect our freedom to self-identify. I believe we waste much of our efforts policing one another — one of the many workings of patriarchy is to busy us with policing each other’s choices rather than protecting them. Our duty is not to police feminists, our duty is to use feminism as a tool to check systems that uphold racism and slut shaming and sex worker erasure and anti-trans woman bias and general policing of other people’s choices.

Because of Beyonce, because of Audre, because of bell, because of Barbara and their feminist stances I no longer feel as if feminism is not for me. I will wear my feminism proudly as a crop top-wearing, curly hair-teasing, pop culture-obsessed, sex worker-embracing, LGBTQ-championing black feminist woman writer.

ps:I am not here for folks saying that a feminist owning her sexuality and adorning her body in clothes she chooses, makes her less of a feminist. The clip below is from AM Tonight, but I point you to Beyonce’s own defense: “[Being empowered] is exactly why I can [wear those outfits]!

WOOT! Janet, when you talk about the women who carried you and how pop culture helped raise you I can’t help but feel similarly, as many #girlslikeus walk different yet parallel paths. Maya Angelou, Janet Mock, Nicki Minaj, Keyshia Cole, and Laverne Coz are the women who have carried me through my life and pop culture has created a backdrop for me to create the sights and sounds of my own womanhood. I understand your apprehension with labels, but I encourage you (as you have encouraged me) to continue to live your truth with or without the labels you so chose.

Great piece! I read the Bitch interview when it came out and felt that your stance was very reasonable, but I always love to see more people identify with feminism.

I enjoyed the interview that you embedded at the bottom of this piece, but I bristled a bit at your use of the pronoun “they” when referring to “the patriarchy.” My understanding of the word patriarchy is that it refers to a system that in general privileges men over women, not a cabal of powerful people dictating our lives–not a “they” in other words. Online I’ve found that the misconception of “patriarchy” referring to a specific group of individuals leads many people to misunderstand feminist theory, and leads to the assumption that feminists are indeed “anti-man” even if it’s understood as “anti-some-men.” This can still be very alienating to some people, and I try to make it clear through the language I use that feminism does not oppose any *people*, but rather the gendered aspect of an oppressive system.

I never took the label of Feminist because I was afraid. I already have the trans label, adding feminist to that, I felt, was asking for people to scrutinize me and consider me a fake feminist because I was “new” to womanhood, which we both know couldn’t be further from the truth. I understand that feminism isn’t a women only group but still, I didn’t want to direct any more attention my way than I already had.

Today, because of the empowerment found in books and music and from people like yourself, and Laverne Cox, and many other strong trans women I follow on Twitter, I am comfortable not only accepting the label feminist but also wearing it as a badge of honour. I spent my entire life dealing with my own gender struggles and I have seen the bias first hand; call me feminist, I will simply smile at you and say “Damn right I am!”

I can’t agree that there is an issue that sceptics think that pop culture is particularly low brow, but instead she and this culture seek to project a very specific and aggressive image of beauty constantly, alongside one of sexualisation, in this case sexualisation being the main ‘tool’ of power (which in itself is degrading as the value of a person is not in domestic chores and sexual availability)-bluntly Beyonce is a tool of celebrity capitalist distraction who has for years drummed into women how to look and act and be sexy. It’s a clever patriarchal tool to satiate people with a very watered down guise of feminism which si actually just a pretty woman who is apprently of higher worth than a singer who si overweight etc, and who makes ludicrous amounts of money whilst others starve and struggle on the back of this crude image of sexual attractiveness and faux power. Even the trivialization of LGBT rights in videos where she will cuddle up to women for titillation of the infamous male gaze is just awful to watch.

As usual, your words touch my soul in ways never done before. I had such similar apprehensions for labeling myself as a feminist—I always vocally advocated for gender equality, but as a man, could I be a feminist? Yet December 13, 2013 was a beautiful day because when I heard and felt those lyrics on ***Flawless, all of my apprehensions went out the window. It’s a sad truth that pop culture is often dismissed in academic circles, but your realness is already helping to change that. You are arguably becoming a pop culture icon yourself with both the academic and pop side both listening! Thank you again for not making this academic/social justice nerd not feel like the only one who can spit Beyoncé/pop culture facts in a single breath. <3
And shout out to Ethan for knowing that Bey did in fact do her research! =]

This was beautiful Janet! I loved this. I’m still exploring my feminist identity. A couple years ago, I actually got in a huge argument on Twitter with a few blogger associates about it. They found one of my posts to be sexist, and I told them I didn’t consider myself a feminist, and got my head chewed all the way off. I just didn’t think it was a label for me. I wanted equality for women, but I felt like that wasn’t enough. I had seen the feminist extremeists online. I saw those who really fought for our equality, and felt like I didn’t deserve the title. Then Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In really started getting my gears turning. And I read more books about female equality, most especially in the workplace. And Beyonce’s album just sealed the deal for me. I knew that I could be a feminist AND embrace my body and sexuality, and still want to be married, etc. So I definitely attribute part of this awakening to her because she’s making it happen. I love it!

Thanks for sharing your own journey with feminism. I think it’s vital that we share our experiences of coming to political awakening as people. And yes, you can embrace it all while fighting for equality + justice!

Its very sad that you don’t know the history of trans people. It is the radical feminist movement that has done more than anyone else to take away the rights and humanity of trans people. Sheila Jeffreys is responsible for the murders of more trans women than any street thug who commits them.

As a young student of bell hooks, Barbara Smith, and Audre Lorde and now an adult student of the world and of the teachings of Janet Mock, I say Hurray for pulling it all together, as you always do. Everything is related…every breath, every word, every one. So glad that Beyonce made those connections. The vast audience she reaches needs her to do that and she rose to the occasion so spectacularly. Thank you.And yeah…pop culture matters totes matters. Barbara Smith is a pop cultur-ist. We are not alone.

My awakening happened in my first year in college, I was sitting in a course entitled “Politics & Sex” where we were discussing all of these beliefs and perspectives– and discussing sexual terrorism and how women are made to feel afraid regardless of their attire, look, etc.

The prof. challenged us to think about how we viewed feminism and it was because of her that I realized that while I never claimed the title or fully understood the label, I always held the belief that all individuals, regardless of gender identity or expression, should be treated equally and just both socially and politically.

So this may be your proclamation, you publicly claiming and embracing the term “feminism” but your work, your book, and your talks have shown your feminist perspectives all along.

You are a woman of the modern day! Pop culture has a lot of influence both socially and politically so anyone who decides to down play its importance, well they are out of touch with this generation.

Thanks Mark for sharing your own coming-to-age as a feminist. I, too, have always said I championed feminist ideals but wouldn’t necessarily label myself a feminist. I am glad that my journey and the work of so many others have led me to a feminist siblinghood with you!

Love this post! My brain is swimming with so many thoughts but I’m going to try not to babble. I think it would great if Beyonce is bridge into feminism for young people. We all have to get where we’re going the best way we can. My jumpoff point with feminism is Twitter and people love to trivialize it because they think social media is lowbrow.

The scholarly work will always matter. I think those outside of academia living their lives as feminists matter as well. It’s why I love reading the thoughts of the feminist women I follow on Twitter. We all need to see people walking the walk as well as talking the talk. It’s also is why I’m generally not here for people policing Beyonce’s feminism. We can question, critique, or engage her about it. However, saying “You can’t have this because you’re not worthy” is a problem.

Twitter, just like literature, has been such a resource for me as a young feminist. For me, there is no hierarchy in the sharing of information, truth and knowledge. Thank you for bringing this up. And yes, Beyonce is not above critique — none of us are. I believe in being a critical fan, in calling out Beyonce (out of love, and in the sake of pushing her to be better) for some of her work which does not necessarily align with my feminist principles (Jay-Z’s line in “Drunk In Love” for example).

Love it! Very powerful piece. As important as it is for people to come out of the closet with their sexuality, I think it is as equally important that we come out as feminists, as well. We can’t just attempt to fix one problem when society has so many more holding it back.

Thanks so much for this. I still struggle with whether to take feminist as a label for myself. As a Unitarian Universalist, it often feels like I should. However as a queer woman in love with a male-bodied/identified person, as a lifestyle BDSM submissive, as a BDSM erotic romance author, as a former sex worker- well feminists have never seemed to want me. Feminism has seemed to outside myself. I do appreciate the conversation you shared that you had with bell hooks. While I’m white, I’ve found the moments in which feminism almost makes sense to me is when I’m reading the words of feminists of color or those who’ve intersected other identities and issues- such as ability or non-mainstream sex/gender identity

What really emboldened me was that phone conversation where I was told that feminism was mine; it’s ours. No one gets to tell us we do not belong, regardless of our genders, our sexualities, our occupations, our work. As a former sex worker and trans woman, I understand your struggle — and thank you for sharing so openly.

What a gorgeous piece. I love so much of your work and your autobiography allowed me to begin to understand more the lives of trans people. I think it’s good that Beyoncé is introducing feminism to so many new young people, despite her sometimes problematic nature/actions. I actually did an extensive sociological and feminist research project on Beyoncé on youtube if you want to check it out! http://youtu.be/BF-9nSnt958